Workshops help new parents learn more about taking care of young babies

No matter how many child care books parents brush up on, there is still more new moms and dads can learn about their little bundles of joy.

That’s why Marc Spanjers and Shayla McGill could be found at the Professional Development Center last Thursday, taking in a presentation by Amy Hood Hooten, an infant/toddler and early childhood specialist at Western Kentucky University.

“I’ve taken child care classes, so I just wanted to see if they’d tell me anything I didn’t know — which they have actually, ” said McGill, while balancing her and Spanjers’ two-month old son Kevin. “There’s been quite a bit I didn’t know that I found out.”

For instance, she learned that as soon as Kevin gets his first tooth she needs to start a brushing regimen.

The point behind Diapers2Diplomas, a four-week series of workshops sponsored by the Henderson County Early Childhood Council, is to answer questions parents truly want to know and to provide information and resources to help make their child’s first three years the best they can be.

“The intent was to catch these parents because babies aren’t born and we get recipe handbooks to go home with them,” said council co-chair Aleisha Sheridan. “Every child is different, but every parent is different too. I have a speech pathology/early childhood background, but when they put that baby in my arms I was like, ‘What do I do?’”

Last summer the state awarded the Henderson County Early Childhood Council $25,000 for several activities, including the Diapers2Diplomas workshops. The free sessions are for parents either expecting or with infants age 0-12 months.

“We looked at our needs assessment and there aren’t a lot of resources available to our parents from birth to three years old,” Sheridan said.

The council spoke with obstetricians and nurses who work with parents expecting to gauge what type of information is being offered. The council also did an informal poll to see what key topics parents want to know about and organized the workshops based on that data.